Why Sinestro Corps War was and is the Peak of GL Vol.4

So I've been big into GL for years but a few years back, never had anyone seen such an epic tale in both scope and overall quality as the Sinestro Corps War. It not only resolidified Sinestro's place as Hal's main bad but also staked the odds against the Corps with incredibly powerful foes, overwhelming numbers, and the fact that the Sinestros could kill and the GL's...not so much. This was truly a war, a giant smackdown between will and fear that ended up just being Sinestro's "fuck you, we need change" to the Guardians, everything else just a cleverly designed curtain to get the GLs to use lethal force. With great moments throughout the war in both action and character development, Sinestro Corps War was in my opinon, Geoff Johns' grand masterpiece.

Now onto why I'm doing this blog. I was really excited after the war obviously because of the tease that there'd be all of these new Corps coming around and then a massive amount of wingweilding zombies(ZOMBIES!!!!!!!!) coming to destroy everyone. And in the period between Sinestro Corps War and Blackest Night, I found myself getting more and more excited because Geoff was crafting a universe that was now prophesized to be destroyed. EXCITEMENT. And then Blackest Night came and while that was still an overall enjoyable story, it was NOWHERE NEAR THE GENIUS OF SINESTRO CORPS WAR. I liked Blackest Night for the most part but despite seemingly raising the stakes even more than SCW did, creating much more even more powerful enemies, and bringing back those who could literally attack our heroes' emotions, it didn't get me as pumped to read the next issue as the Sinestro Corps War did. Blackest Night had some twists and turns, the corruption of people who had already been ressurected before at the end of #5 being a crazy highlight, it still didn't compare to the amount of twists and turns the Sinestro Corps War did. In the first issue of the Sinestro Corps War, the Sinestro Corps suddenly ambushed Oa, freeing some of the worst criminals in the universe that Mr. Johns had already smartly placed on Oa before, waiting for the moment to light this fuse. And then to make matters worse, Kyle was infected by Parallax who we hadn't seen since Hal's revival. Things seemed bleak at that point but it got better...the fucking Anti-Monitor, the villain of the original crisis was back and with the Sinestro Corps. AND THIS WAS ALL IN THE FIRST ISSUE. It was a like a mass nerdgasm going on for all GL fans because to put it bluntly, the Corps was fucked.

Each issue seemed to add a new layer to the story, always making you want to come back for more such as the surprise attack on Mogo, then realizing the real target is Earth, to the birth of a new Ion, and then having the four Earth GLs, our heroes, united as one, ready to take on the Sinestros together and succeeding. Blackest Night on the other hand seemed to relyi on cheap gimmicks like throwing out all of these plans that would no doubt work but didn't so they'd have to find something else. In Blackest Night, they thought getting the corps leaders together would destroy the battery...FAILED. Thought having all of the ENTIRE corps attack Nekron would work...FAILED. And even thought giving someone the life entity would work. BUT NOTHING DID...until you find that sudden flaw where "oh if we just take out Black Hand, everything else will fall apart" that kind of stuff happens. It's okay to show how hopeless and dire the situation is but it almost became like the Buu Saga of Dragon Ball Z where it felt like the heros were just throwing random shit plan after random shit plan at the baddies until something ended up working. In the end, it seemed Blackest Night was really just a ploy to bring back 12 dead people.

My enjoyment of the current GL comics has lessened even more since. Now, Geoff has in my opinion, overused the new characters he introduced in the build up to Blackest Night such as Atrocitus and Larfleeze. Both of them were initially incredibly menacing, fearsome, new villains but now used all of the time, they're awesomeness has definitely been condensed even to the point of no longer staying true to how they were originally portrayed. The most obvious example is Larfleeze who at one point was both shown as a literal one man corps powerhouse who was humorous because of how greedy he was while now he's been reduced to one liners and jokes, becoming much more of a joke than a threat. Atrocitus too may have gotten some more depth now that we know more about him but I find myself seeing him as just this grouchy guy who sometimes has a temper tantrum...not the hate filled monster he was in Rage of the Red Lanterns.

I respect that Geoff wanted to flesh out the GL universe more with its gaining popularity but even still, it seems to have sapped my enjoyment out of the series, with all of the focus being placed on building this universe, rather than giving me what I want most and what we had at the beginning of vol. 4: great GL stories where we know our hero well and why we are rooting for him. I've always been a big fan of Geoff but his love for crafting ginormous epics like he once did beautifully in Sinestro Corps War has really taken center stage over brilliant writing and storytelling.